Saturday 7 January 2017

More Paneer In 'Ere

They have had to withdraw this ad, after complaints to the ASA. But this post is not about VENeer, it's about PANeer, the Indian cheese. I had never eaten this, not being a cheese eater. Liz suggested I try it, because it is very similar to cottage cheese, which I can eat. For Christmas she'd requested "Fresh India" by Meera Sodha, the follow up to her first book "Made in India". But Liz ended up with two copies, so I said I would keep the one I'd bought for her, and gave her an alternative gift instead. 130 quick, easy and delicious vegetarian dishes for everyday says the blurb on Ms Sodha's book.
On Thursday evening, I made Meera's Paneer Butter Masala - Jon had made this one in London earlier in the week, and they had enjoyed it. It was delicious! not too spicy but a really good flavour.
It is always satisfying when my attempt looks very like the one in the book!
In case you are wondering, this is Bob's portion, served with regular rice, but I did low-carb cauliflower rice with mine.
The recipe serves 4 [I halved it] and you need a heavy lidded frying pan.

rapeseed oil
500g paneer cut into 2cm cubes
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 onion finely chopped
4cm ginger, peeled and grated
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
800g tomato passata [I blitzed a can of chopped toms]
1 tbsp fenugreek leaves [sainsburys had none, I used 1tsp ground f. instead]
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
½tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp honey
1½ tsp salt
250g peas [fresh, or defrsted]
100ml double cream [none in house, I squirted some from can]
handful of toasted flaked almonds

  1. heat 1tbsp oil, fry the paneer cubes till golden on all sides,  put on a plate
  2. in same pan melt butter, cook onion for 10 mins
  3. add ginger and garlic, stir fry 5 mins, then stir in passata
  4. cover with lid, cook 12-15 mins till reduced
  5. stir in all spices, honey and salt, add fried paneer, replace lid, cook 5 mins.
  6. add peas and cream, cook further 5 mis
  7. scatter with almonds, [optional, drizzle with more cream]
  8. serve with steamed basmati rice.


2 comments:

  1. I used to make paneer cheese when we were at the smallholding and had goats milk- its very easy to make - totally tasteless though! but very good in a curry

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found it quite bland and boring when I.had it but yours does look tasty!x

    ReplyDelete

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